Game director Tomm Hulett has been working in the industry since he was a kid, starting with a job testing NES games. Since then he's worked on everything from Persona, Contra, Silent Hill, and Adventure T...

When Nintendo feels like we get too close, it puts us right down. It's not the lover man that we want it to be, at least when it comes to fulfilling what can sometimes seem like lofty requests. For instance, remixes featuring...

Super Mario Crossover, the pixel-for-pixel recreation of Super Mario Bros. that features a selectable cast of NES stars, was all set for the big 3.0 update this past June. It was unfortunately delayed a month, but it is now available for your pleasure. Head on down to developer Exploding Rabbit's site to give the new revision a spin.

New to 3.0 are the levels from Super Mario Bros. Special, a Japan-only port / remake for the NEC PC-8801 and Sharp X1; a difficulty system that drastically alters level layouts; and more skins for levels and characters to make them look like various other games on the NES, SNES, Game Boy, and so on. More tweaks and skins are planned for the future, but this is likely the last big update.

Exploding Rabbit is now hard at work on Super Retro Squad, which follows the style of Super Mario Crossover only with original characters and levels. While originally looking like an NES game, the graphics have been beefed up to a more detailed 16-bit style, though it looks like there may still be skins to "downgrade" the look to 8-bit and handheld styles. The game will also feature four-player online and local co-op. You can check the new screens below.

You've probably heard the story, right? How basically Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone were used as "influences" when designing the cover and character art for the main heroes of Contra.
Well someone has taken tha...

Contra: Shattered Soldier is blasting its way onto PlayStation Network next week. Announced on the latest edition of the PlayStation Blogcast, the shooter will arrive as a part of next week's store update.
Original...

Three years ago as of yesterday, indie dev Exploding Rabbit's Super Mario Bros. Crossover was unleashed online, and the reception couldn't have been warmer. For the benefit of the unfortunate few who haven't heard of this darling fan tribute, Crossover is a tile-for-tile remake of Super Mario Bros. but with the ability to swap Mario out for a number of NES heroes, like Link, Bill Rizer, Simon Belmont, or Mega Man. The game was later expanded with more characters plus graphical skins to emulate the look of other NES, SNES, and Game Boy games.

Version 3.0, scheduled for some time in May or June, will introduce all new stages taken fromSuper Mario Bros. Special, an obscure Japanese exclusive for the NEC PC-8801 and Sharp X1 home computers. There will also be rearranged stage layouts depending on your selected difficulty, so what was once a leisurely bridge stroll over a crystal clear lake could now be a perilous platforming challenge across a molten pool of lava.

Finally, I'd like to remind you that Exploding Rabbit is also working on an original title called Super Retro Squad, which is essentially Crossover just with new characters directly inspired by the NES stars. Once 3.0 is out and about, development on SRC will most certainly kick into high gear.

Guitarist Psycho Crusher, whose amazing rock arrangements I've shared numerous times in the past, originally composed this latest jam with the intent to play it live as a full band. Instead, he decided to turn it into a chip...

I've listened to plenty of videogame musical covers in the seven years I've worked at Destructoid. Yet, this is the first time I've heard of a musical cover montage with a Middle-Eastern twist to them. There's even some games covered here I'd never expect, like Alley Cat.
[Via The Awesomer]

In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the greatest run and gun videogame series ever, Allistair Pinsof ranked the top five Contra games. But what is a game without a kickass soundtrack to back it up? Nothing, that's what!

Contra games are balls hard, so the music needs to fill you with the strength to tackle impossible odds without fear or hesitation. From electronica to hard rock to symphonic orchestrations, every note imbues you with confidence -- and maybe a little bit of bravado as well.

Get ready to attack aggressively with the top ten Contra songs of all time!

While other kids were chasing mushrooms, leveling up mages, and debating boss orders, real tough guys were playing Contra. Though the series saw a dip in quality in the PlayStation generation, it still stands as one of the most intense and consistent action series. In celebration of the series 25th anniversary this week, it's time we take a look back.

In the late '80s, arcade games relied on tough as nails difficulty and a series of increasingly outlandish scenarios to keep kids glued to a cabinet, feeding coins by the minute. Contra was one of the first series to bring this action to home consoles, giving players unforgettable boss encounters, a world that combines Hollywood blockbusters of the era, and a cheat code to memorize for a lifetime.

Contra has gone through many console generations and styles, but these are the top five worth returning to, time and time again.

[Destructoid's Director of Communications Hamza Aziz asked Jonathan Holmes to make a show called 'Sup, Holmes?' so that Destructoid could later sell a t-shirt that says 'Sup, Holmes?' on it. This is that show. Subscribe ...

I am not sure exactly where this started, but I have a pretty good idea: When I used to play Contra III: The Alien Wars with friends, I would do anything to avoid getting the “F” flamethrower for my gun. It was the worst. It had no range, it barely did any damage, and it was just an overall chore to use. In a game like Contra, having a weapon with a long range is almost a necessity! That’s why the spread gun is so great! Picking up the flamethrower in Contra III almost always resulted in certain death.

This hatred of the videogame flamethrower moved on to many more games in the future. Games like StarCraft and even Ratchet & Clank introduced other similar forms of the flamethrower ... and I reacted to them all the same. I didn’t like equipping them. At all.

But, recently, I have discovered something surprising about videogame flamethrowers.

After yesterday's official announcement of Metal Gear Solid 5 (woot!), I started thinking about how there really aren't any bad games in the entire, long-running Metal Gear series. All of the Solid games are near perfect, the...

As another week of programming on Destructoid's Twitch TV channel comes to a close, and the excitement of the weekend approaches, I'm going to take this opportunity to do something slightly unorthodox. Spamfish and the Melted...

Super Mario Bros Crossover, a flash game which takes characters from classic videogames and puts them into a recreation of Super Mario Bros., has had an update in the works for over a year now. Version 2.0, which we first tol...